


Coming Home

by KupoWonders



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, Happy Ending, KH3 spoilers, post final boss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-26 21:25:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17753753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KupoWonders/pseuds/KupoWonders
Summary: After a long struggle Roxas and Xion are finally whole, and can join Axel (or is it Lea now?) to do what they've wanted to do ever since they were separated so long ago - go back to the clock tower and eat ice cream. Maybe it'll be different now that they're real people, but it'll always be home.Post final boss, vague KH3 spoilers.





	Coming Home

**Author's Note:**

> All I've ever wanted since I finished Days in 2009 was to see Roxas, Axel and Xion happy and together again, and KH3 delivered. And now I can write this, and it can pretty much be canon, which is absolutely wonderful!  
> Enjoy!

It was weird having a body again. It was probably weirder to be in the sort of situation where having such a thought made sense, but Roxas didn’t really like dwelling on exactly how strange and cruel his circumstances had been. He’d been living in Sora for about a year, feeling what he felt and seeing what he saw without truly feeling or seeing anything, but that wasn’t what was important. What was important was that now, he was his own person again.

Now he could feel the warm, dusky rays of Twilight Town on his skin again for the first time in so long, could smell the food that was cooking in the new bistro floating on the air, could hear the random snippets of conversation from the locals whom he had walked past a thousand times in a past life. And something in his chest felt so full of warmth and joyful disbelief at the fact that this was real, that not only was he here but that his best friends were also whole and at his side, that he couldn’t stop himself from grinning ear to ear. A few of the townspeople smiled back when they saw him, his happiness like its own ray of light spreading joy to anyone who saw it, and when he caught Xion’s eye he saw that she was grinning just as hard as he was. 

Neither of them had dared to hope that they could have this again. Both of them had simply accepted their sacrifice (one a little more gracefully than the other) and had accepted that they would never again truly walk through the world that had become their home. But here they were, walking the familiar yet foreign streets of Twilight Town, arm in arm as Axel pointed out exactly what had changed in their absence. 

(The three of them had looped their arms together the minute they had arrived in Twilight Town, all of them needing to feel the others by their side to make sure that none of them slipped away again. It made them take up a lot more of the paths along Tram Common than they would have if they were just walking side by side, but no one around them seemed to mind.)

They made plans to visit the new open-air theatre that Scrooge had set up after walking past it and hearing the loud, cheerful music; and to have a meal together in the new bistro, sampling things they never could have when they’d been in the Organization - but there was something that the three of them needed to do together first. Before they could embrace the new things in this familiar world, they needed to return to their true home. They needed to go back to the clock tower. 

Axel was finally bringing them around toward Market Street and the ice cream shop, and in the distance Roxas could see the spire of the clock tower standing tall behind the smaller buildings. His eyes were beginning to sting, and the warm, swelling feeling in his chest was spreading to his throat. Xion made a little choked sound beside him, and Roxas glanced over to her to see tears beginning to roll down her cheeks despite the grin that was still on her face. He grinned back at her, feeling the tears begin to escape from his own eyes, and almost stumbled when Axel bumped into him. 

“Hey, knock it off!” Axel said, but there was a little tremble to his voice too. “No waterworks here, got it memorised?”

The two of them laughed quietly, and Axel gave them a small, soft smile before untangling himself from them and reaching into his pocket for his munny pouch. 

“Oh, you’re back!” the lady behind the counter said, her face lighting up as she looked over the three of them. 

“I brought them back,” Axel replied, feigning nonchalance, and Roxas almost rolled his eyes. “Three sea salt ice creams, for me and my friends.”

Xion was practically bouncing on the spot, still smiling so much that it looked like it would start to hurt, and Roxas couldn’t stop himself from mirroring her. This was real. They were home, and everything would be-

“R-Roxas?”

The voice was familiar, although hesitant, but Roxas still spun around immediately. His eyes widened, and the warm feeling that had consumed him since he had set foot in Twilight Town suddenly flared brighter inside him. Tears started rolling freely down his face, and he glanced between the three teenagers staring at him in wonder.

“Hayner, Pence, Olette,” he tried to say, but their names came out as barely more than a whisper. They looked different from the data versions of themselves that he had known, and as soon as he acknowledged that a seed of doubt appeared in his mind. They didn’t really know him – they’d met Sora and had wanted to meet him, but what if they were completely different to their data selves? He was different from the person who had befriended them for a week of a summer vacation he had never really had – he’d never known the real them, and they’d never met him. What if the fake personality that DiZ had thrusted upon him was the Roxas that they’d like, and the real him was incompatible with their lives? What if-

But a smile was breaking out across their faces – Hayner was wiping forcefully at his eyes as though daring anyone to even suggest that he was crying, while Olette’s hands were flying to her mouth while her eyes filled with joy. Pence was the one who took the first step forward, rubbing at the back of his head with one hand while offering the other. 

“Hiya, Roxas,” he said, offering him a lopsided smile that looked nothing but genuine. “Nice to finally meet ya!”

“Y-yeah,” Roxas said, returning the smile, and Hayner and Olette made their way over now that the first contact had been made. Hayner clapped a hand on his shoulder while Olette rocked on her heels not even a foot away from him, staring at him with fascination and wonder. 

“Good to know you’re actually real,” Hayner said behind a smirk, despite his eyes still looking a little watery, and Olette shoved his arm. 

“Hayner, don’t be rude!” she scolded, giving him a mock-glare before smiling at Roxas. “It’s great to meet you, Roxas.”

“Should we say nice to see you again?” Pence wondered, scratching at his chin. “I mean, _we_ didn’t see you, but a version of us did, so-“

“Don’t start with that again!” Hayner protested, gesturing wildly. “It’s weird! And I bet I’m way cooler than any weird alternate me anyway!”

“That depends,” Roxas said, smiling tentatively as three pairs of eyes abruptly fell on him. “How many times has Seifer kicked your butt here?” 

Hayner’s face turned red as he quickly insisted ‘never!’, only for Roxas, Pence and Olette to share a knowing glance and burst out laughing. 

“How many times did you have to beat up Seifer for him, Roxas?” Olette asked as Hayner spluttered. 

“Did you manage to take part in the Struggle, Roxas?” Pence asked, eyes sparkling. “I bet you’d be great at it!”

A tiny movement out of the corner of his eye caught Roxas’s attention, and he glanced away from the trio to see Xion taking a little step back, giving them some more room. Roxas blinked, abruptly remembering Xion and Axel and their promise, and he turned back to the trio. 

“Hey, is it… is it okay if we catch up later?” he asked. “There’s somewhere I need to be.”

“Oh, sure!” Olette said immediately, smiling. “We need to get something from the bistro anyway.” Hayner looked like he was going to protest, and Olette quickly elbowed him. “Maybe meet us in the Sandlot, once you’re ready?” 

“That would be great,” Roxas said, returning her smile. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Pence replied. “You need to tell us all about our weird data selves, though!” He glanced just over Roxas’s shoulder. “And bring your friends!”

Olette and Hayner seemed to just notice Axel and Xion, and while Hayner’s eyes narrowed a little at the sight of Axel – despite his cheery wave in response – Olette’s expression brightened at Xion. 

“Hey, I love your outfit!”

Xion smiled tentatively, pulling at the hem of her new dress. “Thank you.” 

“We’ll talk soon,” Olette promised, beginning to pull the others away. “We needed another girl around here – Fuu isn’t much of a conversationalist. I’m sure you’d get along with her, though!”

The three of them waved before disappearing back toward Tram Common, and Axel let out a loud, theatrical sigh. “Well, they were tiring.”

“They seem nice,” Xion defended at the same time the woman behind the counter said “they just take some getting used to.” 

She passed Axel the ice creams, but as he was rummaging in his pockets a strange expression flitted across his face. He pulled out something short and stubby, and for a moment Roxas didn’t recognise it. But then Axel flourished the small ice cream stick, and Roxas felt his heart lurch. 

“What do I get for a WINNER stick?” he asked, with no trace of bitterness or sadness in his voice. 

“Oh!” the woman behind the counter exclaimed, reaching for the stick. “Congratulations! You get a free bar for a single WINNER stick, but if you collect a few then you can get some great prizes! There’s a keychain, a tissue box-“

“A keychain, huh?” Axel said, eyes glinting with amusement before he tucked the stick away again. “Might hang onto it for a little longer, then.” He passed her the munny, and held all three sticks in his hand before turning away and looking back to the others. “Shall we?” 

They began the uphill walk toward the clock tower, but all the while Roxas was staring at him. 

“You kept it, after all this time?” he asked, voice quieter than he intended. 

“Well, yeah. Didn’t have much else to hang on to, after you left.” He glanced toward Roxas and Xion. “I don’t know how much you two know about… what I did between you guys leaving and deciding to become a Keyblade wielder.”

_Dying and coming back to life,_ Roxas corrected mentally. _Again._

“Not a whole lot,” Xion admitted, also speaking softly. 

“Well then,” he said, some forced cheer in his voice. “Looks like that’s a story for when we’re back where we’re meant to be, huh?” He looked up toward the clock tower, and a rueful smile appeared on his face. “I bet Isa will have a lot to say about it. Probably call it my ‘extended tantrum’, or something like that.”

“You’ll have to remember to ask him when we get back,” Xion said, and Axel laughed. 

“I’ll try to get it memorised.”

The climb up to the top of the tower was a lot less convenient now that it wasn’t safe for them to use dark corridors, but having to physically climb the steps allowed the anticipation of what they would see at the top build. Part of Twilight Town itself had changed, but how much of the view had changed? It was a little later in the day, so would the sunset be the same? 

Roxas hesitated before rounding the corner to their perch, the place where they had spent the happiest moments of their lives, momentarily terrified. What if it felt different now? What if all he could see was what they had lost, the phantom of what the Organization did to them sapping away the joy? Xion stopped beside him, turning to peer into his face, and when he eventually glanced toward her she smiled comfortingly. 

“We’re home,” she said, taking his hand and pulling him around the corner. 

The beauty of the sunset, _their_ sunset, stole his breath, and Roxas barely registered himself moving to sit down at his usual spot on the tower. Axel passed him his ice cream, his hand trembling slightly as he took it, and his eyes greedily drank in the sight of Twilight Town bustling beneath him, smoke and steam puffing from chimneys, the trains soaring across the tracks toward Sunset Hill and the rolling fields and greenery in the distance. The excitement that had been building as he had climbed the tower had faded away, replaced with a soft feeling of pure peace that Roxas had never really felt before. 

He clutched the ice cream tightly in his fist, staring at Twilight Town, and marvelled at the reality of his situation. He was alive. He was whole. And the two people he loved most in the worlds were by his side, also whole and happy and home.

“We’re home,” he echoed, smiling so much it hurt, and barely felt the drop of melting ice cream on his hand. And as he ate the ice cream that he hadn’t been able to taste in so long, his friends at his side, it hardly mattered that the stick beneath said WINNER.


End file.
